How does one spend Valentine’s Day when married to an astronomer?
Well, Andy and I volunteered at the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy Visitor Information Station (VIS) on Mauna Kea where we cleaned and repaired the station’s telescope eyepieces!
Before we set to work on the large task ahead that filled the rest of our day, Andy ‘got’ us lunch at Hale Pohaku 😉 Well, actually lunch was provided by the VIS for our volunteer time; but we were spending the time together on Valentine’s Day!
After lunch, we made our way back down to the VIS and gathered up all of the eyepieces. At the classroom/warehouse, we collected our tools and cleaning supplies and set up for the several-hour task ahead.
The tunes were the first order of business that we set up to keep us company. Then we organized the table with cleaning supplies, tools and eyepieces – MANY eyepieces.
We kept notes for each make of eyepiece as we took it apart and sketched the order and direction of each lens and spacer so we were sure to put them back together in the right order and orientation.
It felt odd at first to take apart such nice elements of manufacturing; but I soon found that keeping the notes and carefully documenting each new configuration, the task was quite enjoyable. In fact, I enjoyed the challenge a great deal.
It was also fun to get the lenses clean and fiber free then to succeed at getting all the pieces back together again, in the correct order; and still have it remain fiber free between the lenses 😀
They are like a cross between a jigsaw puzzle and a wood puzzle box; or in this case, a metal puzzle box.